S4, 15 Turning Point Part 2 (FB) (August 9, 2019)
CLICK HERE FOR PART 1 9th April 2098: Present Day Qoter Dark Veil's Drug Factory... First, it was the smell that hit me. Then came the heat. Ranger: "Phwoa!" He exclaimed dramatically, flapping a hand in front of his nose. Zar-Dar: "Yeah, the refinery isn't the best smelling place." He admitted. "Still, people don't pay us for nice smelling shit. They pay us for stuff that knocks them off their rockers!" Cat: "So what's in here?" Zar-Dar: "This is one of the synthetic elements that goes into the spice." He explained. "Pure spice is worth millions, so to be able to market it to a wider audience and make it more readily available, we mix it with several other ingredients to make up to weight. This," he rapped on the closest vat with his knuckles, "Is one of 'em." Cat: "Do you tell them that?" Zar-Dar: "Who? The customers? Nah! Of course not! They don't need to know what's really in it! If they did, they wouldn't smoke the stuff! Nobody wants to know what's in the stuff their consuming. Same with food. All that artificial shit you're shovelling in your gobs - bet you don't stop to question where it's come from, do you? Same principal." I knew that we were discussing illegal drugs and that everything here should be locked away somewhere by the police, but Zar-Dar did have a point. I didn't remember the last time I actually read the ingredients list on anything I ate. Zar-Dar: "We do have a few clients who can tell the difference. Thankfully though, they're also the sort of clients who are willing and able to pay for the real deal." I nodded as we went along, listening patiently as Zar-Dar explained things that I really wasn't interested in. After all, I was really only here to find out if they were the ones responsible for Tether and so far, our host had given away nothing at all. Outside... As the small, black, one-manned fighter lowered down level with the factory, the guards in the courtyard, initially taken by surprise at the ship's sudden appearance, all opened fire. Their bullets 'clanged' against the hull and the lasers ricocheted off causing only cosmetic damage, before the craft tilted its nose down and returned fire. Its nose cannon turned the guards into red mist in a matter of seconds, before it turned its attention to the building itself. Opening fire once again, the ship strafed the front wall, taking chunks out of the bricks and mortar and shattering a handful of windows. This was also only superficial damage, but Darkblade didn't care. After all, this was only to get their attention... Inside... Dust drifted down from the rafters as the building shook. An alarm bell began to ring and Zar-Dar, our casual tour guide suddenly went on the alert. Mere moments later, even as I threw Tracks a confused glance, a guard rushed up to his boss and muttered inaudibly into his ear. Zar-Dar nodded with a concerned look on his face before responding, again, in a language I couldn't follow. The guard clearly understood though, as with a curt nod, he dashed off again, just as quickly as he'd appeared. Zar-Dar: "My apologies for the interruption!" He beamed, once again with his salesman's smile as he returned his attention to his guests. "I'm afraid that were going to have to cut the tour short. Something has come up that will require my attention shortly, however, for now, shall we return to the office and we can discuss the products that The Brain might be interested in?" Cat: "Everything okay?" She asked, worried. I too was wondering what was going on. Something was happening and we clearly weren't being told what. Ranger: "Should we be concerned by the shaking and alarm bell?" He questioned sarcastically. Zar-Dar: "No, no." He responded, keeping up the grin. "It's nothing that my guards can't handle. Now, shall we?" The door clattered to the ground, kicked clean off its hinges as Darkblade strode through. A bullet struck his leg and he grunted at the unexpected impact, but thankfully his armour did its job. He returned fire, dispatching the assailant on the second shot. Another guard appeared up ahead and barely a second later, an ornately-carved black knife embedded itself in the guards exposed face. Initially, Darkblade hadn't been sure what he was going to do when he got here, but on the journey, he'd discovered a sack of timed explosives from a previous mission stowed away in the cargo compartment of his ship. Then, he had instantly known what he was going to do. He could have marched through the base until he'd killed every single gang member he came across until the entire cartel and Tank too, lay dead at his feet. But that was too good for them. Too good for the men who'd laughed at him as he pleaded for his daughter's life. Too good for those who had stood by and watched as he had to turn his back and walk away - unable to do anything against so many armed men. And far too good for Foster. So now, as he ploughed deeper into the factory, he clutched a heavy satchel in one gloved hand. Outside, his ship, on full auto-pilot, kept up the attack against the factory walls, whilst doing its best to avoid being damaged, in order to keep their attention divided. His long, ebony and entirely deadly sword made short work of two more thugs before he kicked a third in the face, snapping his neck and sending him toppling backwards down a flight of stairs. As the alien's body hit the closed door at the bottom, the door swung open slightly and revealed what Darkblade had been searching for. Stood over the body, Darkblade took a moment to look around the room beyond, before, explosives at the ready, he made his way into the power plant... Zar-Dar: "So, to business!" The drug lord purred as we all took seats around his desk, the exception as usual, was Tracks who elected to stand behind me instead. Phoenix and now also another girl stood talking quietly to each other in one corner, but the bearded man from earlier was no longer present. The alarm bell that had been ringing everywhere else in the factory was silent here, however, I couldn't help but hear its echoes coming from beyond the door. Zar-Dar: "I would offer you a drink as we discuss the details, however, I fear our time may be limited. Still, I would very much like us to reach some form of at least preliminary agreement today, do you agree?" Tank: "That's fine by me." I accepted, nodding. Zar-Dar: "Perfect. Okay then, let's start with the products before moving on to frequency, supply lines and of course price." Tank: "Okay. That's fine." Zar-Dar: "So... which of our fine products is The Brain interested in?" Now was the time. Zar-Dar had revealed nothing on our tour and if this meeting was going to get wrapped up soon thanks to whatever was going on elsewhere, then I wasn't going to have another chance. Tank: "Well, the big-sellers are a must, but there's also one other substance he's curious about - Tether." Darkblade checked the countdown timer on his wrist as he sprinted back out of the factory. Three minutes. That was plenty of time. More than he needed. In fact... a thought occurred to him as he commanded his fighter to lower down to a low hover so that he could jump back aboard. Not bothering to strap himself into the safety harness, he instantly reached for the controls to override the auto pilot and manually took over shooting at the factory. Flicking a bright red safety toggle, he primed a torpedo and as soon as the confirmation light appeared, he launched it. Rubble fell from the side of the tower and he visibly saw the building wobble under the impact of the explosion. Zar-Dar's face lit up at the mention of Tether. Zar-Dar: "Ah... yes! Tether. The wonder substance that's all the current rage!" His eyes glittered as he spoke. Tank: "Do you make it?" I asked, my heart in my mouth. And then the tower shook. Everybody grabbed whatever was nearest to them for support - for me, that was the desk, even as Tracks grabbed hold of me from behind protectively. The glittering eyes and showman smile was nowhere to be seen now as Zar-Dar leapt onto his comlink to find out what was going on and the drugged-up girls screamed in the corner. Ranger: "What in Scrim was that?!" Zar-Dar: "I am sorry, my friends." He announced, coming off the brief com-call. "But we shall have to conclude this meeting another time." Zar-Dar stood and seemed like he was about to escort us out when the table-mounted holo-com began to bleep for attention. Slapping the activation key, presumably expecting one of his men to appear, Zar-Dar practically fell back into his chair as an all-too familiar to me figure appeared. Both Cat and I gasped at Darkblade's sudden appearance and Tracks growled threateningly. Even in hologram form, Darkblade was menacing. Belatedly I realised that the building had stopped shaking and now there was no question in my mind that Darkblade had been behind the attack. Darkblade: "Dark Veil!" His modulated voice boomed. "Tank!" I know you're all in there!" In the corner of my eye I saw Zar-Dar shooting me a look, silently questioning how this man knew me as well as them. Thankfully, because of the way the projector was situated in the desk, Darkblade couldn't see me at present; just Zar-Dar. I had to think fast. It was obvious to me that Darkblade was here for me. But how had he found me? Zar-Dar: "What do you want? Who are you?" Darkblade: "My name now is Darkblade - but you might remember the name Jarred Zeal better." He responded with malice dripping from every word and I suddenly remembered why the name The 'Dark Veil drug gang had rung a bell in my mind. They were the gang who Jarred had told me had kidnapped and murdered his daughter, a long time ago! Cat: "Tank," she urged quietly, taking my arm. "We need to leave. You know Darkblade - if he's boasting, he has a plan. Something's not right." Darkblade was still shouting at Zar-Dar, but I knew Cat was right. There was something more here than just shooting the building. Zar-Dar was currently keeping him occupied. If we could sneak out... I nodded in acceptance and motioned to Ranger and Tracks with my head. Quickly and as quietly as possible, we left. The head of the cartel was too busy shouting at the hologram of my parents' murderer to care about us leaving and soon we were sprinting through the factory corridors, heading for the exit. Darkblade: "You ruined my life!" He screamed, not even attempting to keep his emotions in check. He could feel the serum coursing through his veins making him stronger and he welcomed its now familiar presence. This was it. This was the end of all his troubles. In just... Two Minutes he glanced at his wrist, everything would be over. Darkblade: "You took everything I had and tore it apart! You kidnapped and murdered my daughter, Kristy! She was all I had left that was good in the world and you took her from me!" Zar-Dar: "Wait... you?" Confusion over what this was about started to abate as the drug dealer remembered. "Kristy?" Darkblade: "Don't you dare dirty her name with your mouth!" He demanded, waiting for the bombs to blow. Zar-Dar: "You mean..." He disappeared from frame for a moment before returning, this time not alone. "This Kristy?" He asked, holding 'Phoenix' by the arm. Darkblade gasped. Kristy: "What's going on?" She asked, terrified. Scrabbling to remove his helmet and take a closer look at the little blue hologram with his own eyes, Darkblade couldn't believe what he was seeing. Surely this was a trick? A manipulated hologram? But... The woman in front of him looked so much like his daughter. So much like her mother. Darkblade: "Kristy?" He breathed, mouth agape. Kristy: "Dad?" She frowned back at the hologram, recognising her father now that he had removed his helmet but still being unable to fully comprehend what was happening. Darkblade took a shaky breath. He couldn't believe it! He'd spent the last thirteen years believing her to be dead, but... he'd never actually seen her body and now... here she was. Apparently. Darkblade: "Is it really you?" From within her corset, using shaking hands, Kristy produced a small golden locket hanging on a chain around her neck. The golden locket that Darkblade had once given to her mother. It really was her. Kristy was alive! Darkblade stifled a sob of joy. Darkblade: "Kristy!" But his happiness was short-lived and his joy instantly turned to pure terror as he remembered why he'd come here - the bombs! His eyes flew to his wrist counter. One Minute And there was no way to disconnect or remotely de-activate the bombs! No guards tried to stop us as we fled from the building. They were all either running for their lives or running into the courtyard to try and defend their factory. As we left the factory behind and sprinted to the far side of the courtyard, I couldn't help but look back and there was Darkblade in his ship, hovering steadily alongside the tower. I'd never seen Darkblade's ship before but it was sleek and black - undeniably his. But why had he stopped firing? Cat: "Babe, come on!" She urged, grabbing my arm as I hesitated. Tank: "No, wait a moment..." He had to move fast. Thinking quickly, Darkblade locked on to the office com's signal and then adjusted his craft to be hovering level with it. Darkblade: "Get back!" He shouted, urgently flapping his arm at the hologram and he saw Kristy dash aside. A short burst from the fighter's nose cannon made quick work of the office's glass window. If he could get close enough, Kristy could jump aboard. He already had an escape route programmed in to get him away in time. Bringing the ship in as close as he dared, to the point where the nose was almost touching the wall, Darkblade positioned the craft just beneath the newly shattered window and then released the canopy. As it lifted up in, what was in reality just a couple of seconds, but what felt to Darkblade like an eternity, Kristy appeared in the hole with her fiery hair, so much like that of her father's, flapping in the wind from his ship. Darkblade stood up and called to her, stretching out a hand. His daughter broke into a grin and stepped onto the window ledge, ready to jump. Hands grabbed Kristy and yanked her, screaming, back into the office. Darkblade: "Nooo!" He bellowed, falling back into his own seat in rage, as Zar-Dar stood, fuming, over Kristy, who now lay on the floor. With a roar, Darkblade opened fire again and Zar-Dar's body practically evaporated, drenching Kristy in blood. Darkblade: "Kristy!" He yelled, standing up again and stretching out an encouraging hand. This would have to be it. A few moments later, she appeared, once more in the window, climbing to her own feet. "Jump!" Kristy nodded, sensing the urgency and climbed into the frame. She reached out for her father's hand. And the bombs detonated. The blast front roared through the factory, bringing instant incinerating fire. The entire factory became a storm of flames. Darkblade saw the faint afterimage of Kristy, the daughter he'd only just been reunited with after thinking her dead for so long, disintegrating in the blast, before the same shockwave threw him, screaming, off his feet and back into his ship. It's heat sensors automatically closed the canopy, but it was too slow to move away and a chunk of collapsing tower slammed into the right wing, sending the entire ship spiralling uncontrollably into the courtyard. All four of us flinched and ducked for cover as the factory exploded. Duracrete, bricks and mortar went in every direction, littering the courtyard and surrounding area in debris. I heard a metallic groaning and looked up in time to see Darkblade's ship crash headlong into the ground and my heart leapt into my mouth. Was he alive? I needed him! I'd spent so many months now trying to track him down to get a confession out of him! I couldn't have it be all over just like that. He needed to confess or I'd never be able to clear my name. The galaxy would forever believe that Frank Foster had killed his parents. He HAD to have survived! Blood trickling into his eye from a cut on his head, Darkblade groaned in pain, dizzy and un-balanced as he pushed open the now non-functioning cockpit canopy. It popped open further than he was expecting and the woozy man tumbled from his ship. Landing face-first on the gravelly ground, Darkblade spat out grit and after a moment, pushed himself onto all fours. Not yet able to get to his feet, tears now falling from his blood-shot eyes, he forced himself to crawl in the direction of the ruined factory. Darkblade: "Kristy..." He croaked, his voice hoarse from a scream he didn't remember screaming and he looked up as something within the building exploded, sending a fresh burst of fire out the nearest exits and causing a small area of roof to cave in. Darkblade: "Kristy... Nooo!" The sob came louder than even he had expected, as he knelt and tears he didn't know he was capable of crying splattered the ground. There he was! Darkblade was alive! But he looked like he was in bad shape. Sliding out of his ship and crawling on his hands and knees, painfully slowly towards the factory. This was it. Tank: "I'm going for it." I muttered aloud to my companions. Cat: "No! Tank, wait!" She urged, trying to grab my hand, but I was already gone. I had vaulted over the low wall we were sheltering behind and now sprinted full pelt across the rubbish-strewn courtyard. As I ran, a length of broken metal pipe protruding from the ground caught my eye and I snatched it up as I passed. Darkblade's breath was coming in ragged gasps now, as he tried desperately to control emotions that he hadn't felt for more than a decade. As he knelt on the cold, hard ground, staring through watery eyes up at the wreckage of the factory, the flickering flames reflected back in his black armour, doubling the pain he felt, both physically and emotionally. Staring into the fiery mass, he didn't even register the fast-approaching footsteps coming up behind him. All he felt was a sharp 'CRACK' on the head and then the world went black... ELSEWHERE... Ash swirled up from the grey ground as the pair of boots ambled slowly across the now-quiet battlefield. Plasma rifle in hand, the masked man was in no hurry; His prey had already left the scene, of that there was no doubt in his mind. All he could feel surrounding him was... pain. Great pain and suffering. But no life. The buildings that now stood only as towering rubble monuments to the dead, whistled eerily as a gentle breeze blew across the land. Everywhere he looked, shops, houses, office blocks, every building in sight, had been reduced to either piles of nothing or, if they'd been lucky, just burnt-out, bullet-ridden shells. Here in the centre of town, it was bad, but he knew that on the outskirts, where the academy was located and where the battle had begun it was even worse. As he walked, his Collective-enhanced senses allowed him to pick up on the emotions of those surrounding him - even those who were now no longer living. If a person had been dead for some time, then he could not, but this battle was still so fresh that with every step he took, he could feel the dead's terror and anguish. He could almost feel the battle raging around him, as if he was there. For the large part, he wished he had been. If he had, then he would have been able to take down Arathon right here. But, once again, Jay had moved on before the hunter could reach him. It was forever a trail and one that for a second he thought was maybe worth giving up on. For a fleeting moment, he imagined a laser, flying across the battlefield and striking his head, bang in the middle of his forehead and putting an end to his miserable existence. Part of him welcomed the thought. But then he remembered what was keeping him going. Revenge. Revenge on the man who had cursed him so. Until he got that, there would be no rest. He would persevere and then, once Jay was gone, well... He wasn't exactly sure what. But that was an issue for the future. For now he would complete his mission. His saviour had been on a mission too and the hunter owed it to them to carry on fighting. For as sure as Jay Arathon was his demon, he also had his angel. The armoured man paused amid the debris, taking a moment to perch on a fallen lump of concrete. As he sat, from one of his belt pouches he produced a photograph - Not a modern holo-image or even one on a screen, but an old-fashioned, printed photo. It looked tatty and torn and as if it had been through the wars which, in a sense, it had. A sigh for times long past escaped the man's lips as he gazed at the image. The thing was, although it felt like it had been taken an eternity ago, in reality it had been nowhere near that long. But nobody would ever know that from looking at it. Nobody would ever be able to guess that that was even him. Thanks to Arathon, he didn't even recognise himself these days. With another sigh, and tucking the image back into his pouch, his heart filled with renewed resolve, he stood, picked up his weapon and resumed the hunt. Yes. Arathon would pay... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BONUS PICTURES The set for the factory. I expanded it in editing to make it appear bigger. Darkblade's ship. We've never actually seen it before but Darkblade has had to get around somehow! I've always had it in my mind but it's just never actually appeared until now. The destroyed factory set with Darkblade's ship crashed. An alternative picture of Kristy being blown up in the explosion. The set for Zar-Dar's office during the fight. The set for the ruins on Etrion. ----------------------------------------------------------------- As my series is going to be jumping around though time, I will include a date on each episode and add it to the timeline at the end of each episode so that you can follow it. TIMELINE Category:R.K. Blast's Series